Woe, Woe and Thrice Times Woe!!!!

Hi Everyone,

So Surrey joins large swathes of the country to move into the top tier of lockdown, the dreaded tier 3!!!! It restricts so very much, it only allows single people to move within the one bubble! I have a bubble with my best friend, but now cannot visit anyone else's house!

Luckily the shops stay open! I mean that is a life saver, but many other activities are gone. In fact now 68% of England is in tier 3 and there is talk of another national lockdown from just after Christmas. we are allowed to have three household gatherings for Christmas, but that may well change too. I am lucky to have a couple of options for Christmas and one is spending it with my friend, if it is just one, or my family, if it is three. I shall see and decide...

I can't wait to have the vax, of course the government is not delivering as fast as they promised, they truly do need to get their finger out! Anyway, that is my news, more lockdown..... how horrid, I do hope this horrid bug goes soon!!!!! Goodnight everyone!!!!

Celia xx

I live in The San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Clara County specifically, and we have been hit very hard by an uptick in COVID-19 infections.

Our Governor (Gavin Newsom) has been walking a very narrow board and has mandated that any county with less that a reserves of 15% of ICU beds is on a severe lockdown.

Right now, there is less than 12% ICU bed capacity in The Bay Area and it is growing worse daily. Essentially, all shops, restaurants, gathering spots are closed down - indoor or not. This is not as severe as it could be - we could be piling our dead in refrigerated trucks as other parts of California have been forced to do - specifically the Los Angeles area.

The U.S. has seen the death rate from COVID-19 increase dramatically to a 7-day moving average of over 3,000 deaths daily. We will be over 400,000 deaths by the time Biden is sworn in on January 20, 2021.

Although the COVID-19 vaccine(s) are now shipping the U.S. and other nations, like where Celia lives, won't be seeing a significant reduction in COVID related deaths until the coming Summer, and maybe later.

At least we have viable vaccines to hopefully stave this scourge.

Hi Miki,

Yes, the rollout of the vaccine continues and stupid excuses are being made already as to why it is likely that the Government's target is unlikely to be met on numbers vaccinated by the New Year.

One laughable one was that some are refusing the shot.... which actually would speed up the process, but there you go, as you say, all hope lies in the vaccines, there are more coming, so everybody keep safe, the light at the end of the tunnel can be seen!!!!!.

I was watching the last in the series of World At War tonight, a very good series about WWII from the seventies.

I watched it years ago, but by chance caught this last one of that series. It stated that the total US deaths in WWII were around 420,000. It left me wondering if Covid will overtake that, it is not far away now is it?

Quite a terrible thought that, that Covid 19 might take more Americans than WWII did.... that kinda made me frit a little.

What stunned me also, (though I knew the Soviets and China lost most during WWII), was the 20 and 15 million figures that those nations lost!

That compared to the 420k the USA lost and 450k that the British lost. So much smaller, possible because of better weaponry and fewer civilians succumbing to the Nazi wankers.

This is the toll of WWII, by the way..... the last figure being the population percentage, a whopping 13.7% of Russians killed during that terrible war, but poor Poland, stuck between Russia and Germany suffering even worse figures of 17%...

Both the USA and the UK lost below 1%. Just one person killed in conflict, to me, is a tragedy.

1 Soviet Union 20,000,000 13.7
2 China 15,000,000 2.9
3 Germany 6,900,000 8.23
4 Poland 5,900,000 16.93
5 Dutch East Indies 3,000,000 4.3
6 Japan 2,500,000 3.5
7 India 1,027,000 0.58
8 Yugoslavia 1,027,000 6.63
9 French Indochina 1,000,000 4.05
10 France 600,000 1.44
11 Philippines 557,000 3.48
12 Romania 500,000 3.13
13 Italy 492,400 1.11
14 Korea 483,000 1.99
15 Hungary 464,000 5.08
16 United Kingdom 450,900 0.94
17 United States 419,400 0.32
18 Lithuania 370,000 14.36
19 Czechoslovakia 340,000 2.33
20 Greece 300,000 7.02

Celia xx

Yes, one person lost to any cause is one too many.

The reasons for the high death toll in what was then the USSR and China are for different reasons.

The Russians literally threw their citizenry into the much stronger German Wehrmacht in order to stop the German move towards Moscow and Stalingrad (now St/ Petersburg). I believe that if the Germans had not outrun their supply lines, they may have captured Moscow. (Germany did not learn much from Napoleon on his ill-fated march on Russia.) Russia also experienced extreme famine during the war years and the 20,000,000 lost includes those losses.

China's losses were primarily due to the inhumane treatment by the Japanese. The Nanjing Massacre was the murder of upwards of 300,000 civilians in 1937. The Japanese murdered 100,000+ in 1942 in the region where US Army Air Corps' B-25s landed in China (Doolittle's Raid).

There was devastating famine in two distinct regions in China during WWII killing upwards of 6,000,000 a part of the 15,000,000 in WWII losses.

The Japanese also employed bacterial and chemical weapons on the Chinese killing 100s and 100s of thousand of civilian Chinese.

I believe the main reason for the lower number of US and British military dead is that neither country was invaded by Germany and/or Japan. Yes, the Brits suffered mightily during the Nazi indiscriminate bombings, but not from an invasion.

Ironically, there was only one death in the then 48 states and that occurred in Oregon when the Japanese had floated large balloons that carried bombs.
_________________________________________________
If we are to have another war, then we should send only those over 40 years old and also include women over 40. Why waste our future citizenry on the stupidity of war.

MichaelaSJ wrote:
_________________________________________________
If we are to have another war, then we should send only those over 40 years old and also include women over 40. Why waste our future citizenry on the stupidity of war.

Hi Miki!!!

Well, if that happens, it's always possible, that I might be away unfortunately on my holiday. I was thinking about Longyearbyen for a little trip and actually might be unfortunately there at that time by sheer chance, when the next war starts, sorry.

But, I can see what you mean as to why so many died. The Russians in particular had a huge effect o the outcome of the war. I believe at best the war would have been prolonged for quite some time, had they been defeated, more likely lost.

A new lockdown has cast itself across the UK, it is very strict, particularly in the south now. I have lost many things to it. But at least I am still here and have not yet, touchwood, caught the rotten bug. I have but one choice for Christmas now, a friend that is in my bubble, I shall probably stay there for the few days over Christmas, it will be a nice time, we share many hobbies and like the same kind of tv.

Take care Miki!

Celia xx

Sounds horrible! I am in a rather remote area. We have masks required in stores and mandatory quarantines for any symptoms. I went in to try to get antibiotics for a sore throat related to tonsils or a tooth or something in my head, (ear?) but as soon as I said sore throat they locked me at home. I never got help for my throat either! I'm glad I'm not anywhere densly populated, though. Good luck =^_^=

Kidagakash wrote: ... but as soon as I said sore throat they locked me at home. I never got help for my throat either! I'm glad I'm not anywhere densly populated, though.

There is being prudent and there is being afraid of shadows. Seems there are a lot shadows where you live.

I have just returned from a local VA clinic for an injection and they took my temperature (via laser) and ask a couple of basic questions.

After the injection I was asked a battery of questions regarding COVID symptoms. Seems the battery of questions should have been asked up front - but in any case I passed (I guess, as I wasn't locked up, yay!).

It's a country clinic with 3 nurses and 1 or 2 doctors. They wouldn't even let me in the building. They are scared, probably because the median age in this town is 60-80 years old. fortunately we are remote, which is good because aside from masks in stores, nobody is really taking social distancing seriously. I do, though it's easy because I live like that anyway. I have like one friend and they live an hour away, otherwise I stay at home. I also stocked up a couple months food and supplies on the off chance anything DID get bad. They DID say they would schedule an appointment to discuss treating my sore throat and malaise after the lockdown but they never called me back and after the lockdown I was pretty pissed off so I have been trying to self medicate with turmeric and probiotics and wait until I can see a specialist on my own or a dentist or whatever.

MichaelaSJ wrote:

Kidagakash wrote: ... but as soon as I said sore throat they locked me at home. I never got help for my throat either! I'm glad I'm not anywhere densly populated, though.

There is being prudent and there is being afraid of shadows. Seems there are a lot shadows where you live.

I have just returned from a local VA clinic for an injection and they took my temperature (via laser) and ask a couple of basic questions.

After the injection I was asked a battery of questions regarding COVID symptoms. Seems the battery of questions should have been asked up front - but in any case I passed (I guess, as I wasn't locked up, yay!).

Sounds like you got one of the newer tests. I have had 4 since it started. two LONG wire ones, and two of the throat swabs. all passes. Yes, the handling of these things varies wildly from place to place.

Hi Kidagakash,

I don't know if this helps, but in England we have a postal prescription service, it is very good and I have used it for years now, it is quick and painless and they remind me when my next prescription should be sent.... as if I am not watching! But, ll you have to do is set it up with your GP/Doctor and it's done! It also saves time going to the pharmacy and having any bitch behind the counter read aloud your prescription! Royal Mail deliver it and I have never had one go astray!!!!

Celia xx

I'm in a hotspot. Yesterday, someone at work very close to me had to leave. She probably found out she was in close contact with someone +. We have to fill out a daily Covid checklist. A couple of months ago I was out as I had played tennis with two people a day before they got sick but I didn't catch it. I've been wearing a mask playing ever since.

I'
ll be happy when I get the vaccine. Everybody planning on taking it??

I was the only person at AA wearing a mask tonight. we don't have masks on in group counselling either :/ The reason is the next towns are an hour or more away, but cars come down the highway all the time. We do a lot of tourism here, too. Well not a lot this year.I have not yet seen an area-wide lockdown here unless it was federal. A guy who came to my house to borrow some papers he needed copied came in without a mask and eventually asked why I was standing in the other room from him. I said "you never know, just being careful" He got covid that same week, according to the timeline he already had it the day I saw him. Glad I have still been careful.